The Handsome Tooth Fairy

I overslept by about 10 minutes. I wasn’t too concerned about running behind, though. In the end, I knew I’d easily be ready and on time to work. Not sure why, but I just didn’t sleep that well all night long. I checked on Bella before heading downstairs. She was awake and shared that she hadn’t slept much if at all because her mouth was still hurting. I suggested that she go in and sleep with her momma.

It was about 540am when I finally made it to the kitchen. I glanced out at the weather and then slipped into my exercise tennies. The predawn sky was completely clear.

I hit the go button on the coffee maker and then completed morning sit-ups. After sit-ups I checked email, headlines, and weather. Nothing significant in my inbox, and nothing too impacting on the Yahoo headlines. As for the weather, the forecast was calling for sunny skies and a high near 90 with a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms – a typical summer forecast. Sounded like a great day for Zoombezi Bay. I knew Mindy and the kids would be happy.

I did 55 push-ups next and then poured a cup of coffee. I headed outside for few minutes drinking my coffee to the sounds of birds chirping. I headed in around 610am to meditate and stretch. I took my time despite being a few minutes behind schedule. I wasn’t finished and ready to run until 635am. No biggie.

It was already 70 degrees. I passed on a shirt, wearing only shorts, socks ballcap and tennies. Out the door, I was entertained that neighbor Carl was already up and out spraying weeds in his lawn. He’s definitely a type ‘A’ guy. Just around the first corner, another neighbor was washing his car. Really?

I ran the full 4.1 miles. Felt great. The run moved along at a faster than usual pace. I was at the halfway point in what seemed like a couple minutes. That was nice. Saw some others out tending to their yards. Must be the season for the early birds. It was already 715am when I made it back to the house.

After toweling off the sweat with a beach towel on the deck, I switched quickly to food prep, both breakfast and lunch. I had my lunch packed and breakfast in my belly by 735am, about on par with school year timing. I poured a cup of coffee for Mindy then headed upstairs. As expected, Mindy woke when I placed her coffee at her bedside. I was a little surprised to see Bella snuggled up sleeping in my spot in bed. Forgot about mentioning that to her earlier. She woke and mumbled something, but can’t be sure what exactly she said.

I hustled through a shave and shower and was ready to go near 8am. Mindy asked if I needed to leave right away or if I would have time for coffee. I had about ten minutes to kill. She headed down to the kitchen with me. We both topped off our coffee then headed out on the deck for a few. It was already warm and steamy. Mindy confirmed her plan to take the kids to Zoombezi Bay. Forgot to mention that we had tentative plans to have dinner at Barley’s with the Jump’s, who were in northern Ohio with family, but planning to spend a day or two in CMH before heading back to Boston. Those plans fell through, however. They wouldn’t be making the trip south after all.

I left for work around 820am. It was a nice, uneventful drive in. I was in my office by 840am. Even then, I was one of the first in. It ended up being my busiest morning yet, with a handful of unexpected urgent matters to deal with for my customer. I felt a tad overwhelmed for a brief period of time, but that I think, was largely a self-inflicted learned behavior. I got a handle on things by lunch time.

I heard from Ashley mid-morning. Said she really needed to see a dentist for a toothache. I recommended she phone Mindy to see about seeing Dr Scott. She agreed to call Mindy. A while later, Mindy phoned. I figured it was to tell me that Ashley called, but it wasn’t. Instead, she was on her way to see Dr Scott with Bella, who woke with her face completely swollen, no doubt related to here mouth hurting for the past two days. Uh-oh!

Speaking of lunch, I decided to make yet another trip to Tuttle mall, and back to Macy’s. Only this time, I was looking for a couple new button-up dress shirts. After lots of toil, I found two that I really liked, one in a sky blue and the other a light purple.  I asked a sales clerk if it would be OK to try them on. Sure. I knew I’d have to work to get them out of the packaging. They still pack them in plastic, tissue paper, cardboard, neck ring, collar ring, and then several pins. Took a while just to get them unfurled. Lucky for Macy’s both fit well and looked good. I’d purchase both.

I looked at some shoes and t-shirts too, but didn’t buy anything else. I went to the sales counter and to the same young woman that gave me permission to try the shirts on. I joked with her about it being a good thing I was buying them. I handed her the pile of packaging they came in. She asked if I needed/wanted it. Nope. She said they would almost certainly reuse it. Hmm? Who knew?

Both shirts were on sale for 40% off. That’s why I love Macy’s, top quality and at a really good price. After my purchase I walked through Finish Line, which is just outside of Macy’s on the 1^st floor, briefly looking at running shoes. It’ll be time to replace them in another month or so. I saw nothing that struck my fancy. Back to the office.

I headed back to the office after being out for nearly an hour. All the up close parking spots were taken.  I had to park in the back 40 for a change. The afternoon wasn’t as frenetic as the AM but I kept busy just the same. I talked with Mindy mid-afternoon. Dr Scott had to pull Bella’s right baby ‘I’ tooth. There was infection between it and the adult tooth still well up above the gum. Said it was infected badly, and oodles of puss drained out after he pulled it, which otherwise was no where near ready to come out. Mindy said Bella was quite the Trooper. When she called, they were already at Teri’s house having a play date (Dr Scott’s wife). So much for Zoombezi Bay.

I left the office for home at 505pm. According to the BM’ers outside temp gauge, it was 92 degrees. Felt like it too. It was just ahead of 530pm when I walked in the house. No one was around while I unloaded my gear. I eventually spotted Mindy out on the deck watering flowers. I very much appreciate her taking care of them. Otherwise, as much as I love them, it starts to feel like a huge chore during the work week. I walked out to say hello and catch-up.

Jacob and Bella were both off playing with friends. Soon all the girls came storming over to our house. I talked with Bella about her mouth, her face still noticeably swollen. Wouldn’t let me get a photo. Mindy said that it was far, far worse before the extraction. Bella said she felt 100 times better. Soon the boys came in to get water and the kickball/baseball bases. They planned to play kickball in Trena’s yard. I headed inside to make more iced tea.

The kickball game didn’t last too long. Soon Bella came running into the house holding her mouth and screaming. Apparently big Jake bumped into her mouth with his leg while running the bases. She was not pleasant to be around. What’s the phrase? Play rough you get hurt? Something like that. It was an accident and Jake even came in to apologize.

Meanwhile, there were no formal dinner plans. I had suggested as early as morning that we needed to eat the leftovers from our 4^th of July cookout. We had a lot of leftover brats and dogs as well as a cheeseburger or two. We also had some inferno chicken in there. I settled on a hot Italian brat and some cottage cheese. Bella and her peeps ate half the leftover inferno chicken. Jacob and Mindy had brats, just like me.

During dinner, I spent about an hour editing recent blog entries. I stopped after doing three days worth. Mindy asked me to join her on the deck. We sat at the table talking for about 30 minutes. Said her friend Christa was supposed to come over on Thursday, and possibly go with us to Barley’s unless I’d be golfing after work. I didn’t really think I’d be golfing. For one, I thought I might be doing the Honda deal. And secondly, I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to drive 25 miles to play nine holes of golf in 90 degree temps after work.

Mindy shared that she washed a couple of my polo shirts. I tried one of them on to make sure they still fit after the initial washing and drying. After all, they’re 100% cotton. They still fit. I headed inside at some point thinking I might do some reading. I never did, at least not from my new book. Instead, I edited the last two blog entries needing published. I never did get around to publishing any of them.

At 840pm I headed to the family room while Mindy walked down to visit with Chrissy. I tuned the TV to the Science Channel where I watched some quality programming. At 9pm, I watched an episode of Through the Worm Hole about dimensions beyond the three we’re all familiar with. Good stuff (alternative universes, black holes, string theory, and gravity’s origin).

The kids both got showers while I relaxed on the sofa watching the Science Channel. Mindy wanted the kids in bed earlier than the past couple nights. I heard her tell them 930pm a bit earlier. That never materialized, but 10pm did. In fact, we all headed for bed around 10pm. I was already starting to fall asleep on the sofa. Just as I was crawling into bed Mindy asked that I play the role of the tooth fairy come morning. Bella placed her pulled tooth under her pillow in a green box. It took me a while to fall asleep but I eventually did. Good night tooth fairy!